


we made pure perfection

by sokkassnapple



Category: Avatar- The Last Airbender
Genre: Birthday, Fall Maiko Week 2020, Family, Gen, Maiko Week, Nickname, Post-100 Year War (Avatar TV), Post-Canon, fire nation family - Freeform, izumi gives them that happiness, maikoween, zuko and mai deserve happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27218335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sokkassnapple/pseuds/sokkassnapple
Summary: izumi is a wild child and comes up with a fun nickname for herself. made for maikoween 2020!
Relationships: Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	we made pure perfection

one morning, fire lady mai was up early. she had to get izumi ready for zuko’s birthday celebration. 

she was in the process of brushing out izumi’s hair. the maids and servants had known by then that only mai was allowed to do it, because the young princess threw a fit otherwise. 

it was quiet in izumi’s chambers, which was most unusual because the girl always had so much to say. mai figured she got this talkative nature from zuko when he was younger, and she had a feeling she would grow out of it as she matured. but that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy all the talking. 

mai shrugged it off though, and simply hummed an old tune she heard on the family’s ember island vacation the previous summer. 

mai’s humming went on for about forty five seconds before a maid burst into izumi’s room.

“princess izumi! it’ll be noon in a couple hours why aren’t you aw-,” she started. 

“call me zuzu,” izumi corrected, “and i’m getting ready right now, with mom.” after saying this, izumi turned back to the mirror like nothing had interrupted.

the maid had turned slightly to see mai sitting directly behind izumi and collected herself. “fire lady mai,” she bowed, “i’m so sorry to have interrupted, i didn’t know you had gotten up already. i was just going to start on izumi’s hair myself.” 

“no need, everybody in the palace knows mommy is the only person allowed to do my hair. did you forget that, miss azu?,” izumi turned to the woman. mai was only grateful that izumi had started to speak, as she could finally see her daughter acting normal again.

“of course, my apologies princess izumi,” the maid sighed and left the chambers. when izumi was born, miss azu was given the task of being izumi’s personal maid. she and izumi had formed a very beautiful bond, that mai appreciated dearly. she and zuko had many duties, ruling the fire nation, and could not always be around. 

izumi had started to turn back to the mirror before calling out, “and call me zuzu!” 

mai had sat there, stunned to hear the nickname again after so many years, before her daughter spoke up. 

“mommy, whats that look on your face? you look like you saw a spirit, or a dragon.”

mai only shook her head, “zuzu, huh? where did you pick up that nickname from?”

izumi smiled shyly and said, “a few days ago, when uncle aang and aunt katara got here with bumi, kya, and tenzin, i heard bumi call kya ‘ky’ and figured that if she had a nickname, i ought to have one too,” she looked down, “i was gonna show them the name today, but i guess it’s not that great.” 

mai beamed. she was so ready to tell zuko that their daughter had unknowingly picked up his old nickname, and planned to tell him after his party. “actually, i think its wonderful. it suits you, _zuzu_.”

if mai could have anything in the whole world, she would have a painting that showed the smile izumi gave her in the mirror. it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. 

“alright, princess zuzu, i’m done with your hair,” mai put the finishing touches on her daughter’s hairstyle, two buns toward the back of her head, and smiled. 

izumi jumped out of her mother’s lap and twirled around her room, swishing her hair around. “i look just like you, don’t you think, mommy?”

it took everything in mai to hold in tears of joy as she looked at her daughter. 

“just like me.” 

•••

zuko couldn’t help but smile to himself as he waved to the last of his guests. his friends heading to their own chambers, as they wanted to stay just a bit longer in the fire nation.

the fire nation. _his_ nation. it had been twenty years or so since the hundred year war had ended and he was crowned fire lord. 

it still made him feel... weird. to be given that sort of power, and now he that was married with a kid, that meant mai and izumi had power too. 

the fact that zuko’s _family_ had power in the fire nation, when for so long he felt powerless to the very nation he served, absolutely floored zuko. he didn’t think he could ever get used to it. 

he thought over the past, as he usually did, while walking throughout the halls of the palace. his party was over, his friends were in bed, along with mai and izumi. 

he was simply on his way to kiss izumi goodnight when he heard someone cry out: “i want zuzu!” 

zuko froze on the spot. did he hear that right? someone ‘wanted zuzu.’ surely that meant him? but, the voice yelling was incredibly childlike. he didn’t know what to do.

he had stood for a good two minutes, contemplating, when down the hall the door to his daughter’s chambers opened. he could see miss azu tearing out the room, hearing cries and yells coming from the door. 

miss azu spotted him and visibly relaxed, “my lord,” she said, “princess izumi is throwing a fit again and she won’t listen to me. my apologies for disrupting the peace, i’ll go back in there, i just needed a brea-“ 

“nonsense! azu, take off work early tonight, i can surely handle my own daughter.” 

miss azu was clearly beginning to protest before a voice behind them said, “are you sure about that?” 

zuko quickly turned to face his wife. smirking up at him a ways away. she slowly walked toward him, before planting a sweet kiss on his cheek. 

“what?” he asked. 

“are you sure you can handle your own daughter,” she repeated, smirking. 

before zuko could respond to her, he heard miss azu running down the hall, taking off for the night. he turned back toward mai and looked between her and the door to izumi’s room. 

“i definitely can,” he said before he pulled her into the room. 

almost immediately, izumi’s tantrum ended. she was now beaming. “daddy!” 

“baby!” he ran toward her bed and scooped her into his arms. he gave her a billion tiny kissed all over and twirled her all around. zuko could see mai out the corner of his eye, leaning on the door frame and smirking. 

“alright alright,” she began walking toward the bed where zuko and izumi now sat, “its time for bed.” 

izumi and zuko both whined. _‘like father like daughter’_ mai thought to herself. she ignored all the whining (which was mainly zuko) and went to undo izumi’s hairdo. 

the royal family sat on izumi’s bed, izumi in the middle. zuko sat toward the foot of the bed, showing off tiny fire bending tricks in his hands, while mai sat towards the head of the bed, brushing out izumi’s hair. 

it was quite the moment for all of them, a peaceful moment that they could all share. 

mai was, once again, humming a tune from ember island when she suddenly said, “zuko, did you know izumi has a nickname now?” 

zuko shook his head and looked down at izumi, who was playing with the end of her robe. 

“i did not,” zuko replied, “could you tell me what it is?” 

mai only smiled, “go on izumi, tell your father what you came up with.”

izumi mumbled quietly, now messing with her sleeve. 

“what was that, darling?” 

“zuzu,” she said only a bit louder. zuko looked up at mai and beamed. they stared at each other, smiling bigger than either of them had smiled before. 

“it’s stupid, i kno-“ izumi started. 

“nonsense! i love it,” zuko said, matter-of-factly. izumi’s head shot up at this, and she grinned a toothy grin at her father.

“you do?”

“of course i do! it so happens that ‘zuzu’ was my nickname when i was younger too! your aunt azula would call me that all the time.”

izumi’s smile faltered. “well if it’s yours, i don’t want it.” 

mai responded before zuko could, “the name ‘zuzu’ never really suited him, and he didn’t like it very much. but i think we both can agree it works perfectly for you.”

mai had then began to tuck izumi into bed. yawning, she said, “mommy, daddy, tomorrow can we visit auntie azula? you three can tell me the fountain story again.”

mai and zuko shared a look before they both responded, “of course we can, _zuzu_.” 

they both gave her kisses and said goodnight before exiting the chambers. once out in the hall, they turned to each other before mai let out a giggle. 

this turned into a series of loud laughs from the both of them as they walked down the hall to their own room. 

they stumbled in their room, quietly laughing to themselves before laying down. zuko had thrown an arm around mai’s shoulder and she tightly wrapped her arms around his waist. 

they laid together, letting the moment sink in.

zuko was in absolute awe, his own daughter had somehow come up with the same nickname his sister had given him so long ago. he felt so proud, that he had been able to create such a beautiful, bright child. 

mai was bubbling. her daughter, _her daughter_. she knew izumi looked like her, but the fact that she looked like mai and acted like zuko? she couldn’t believe it. she created pure perfection. _they_ created pure perfection.

suddenly, zuko spoke up, bring mai out of her thoughts. “another thing to add to the list of things we don’t hate?”

she laughed. zuko wished he could bottle that sound and listen to it whenever. 

“right on top of each other, and fruit tarts? sure.”

“goodnight, mai,” zuko said. he turned and suddenly his face was buried in her hair.

“goodnight, _zuzu_ ,” she teased, turning into his chest.


End file.
